Longwall mining systems have typically been using roof supports for controlling a roof of an underground mine. These systems use a moving longwall shearer to cut out a portion of a seam that is located in front of the shearer. However, if poor geological conditions exist when the shearer cuts out a portion of the seam, a cavity could form in a portion of the roof that is between an anterior region of the roof support and the forwardly located seam. This cavity may pose risk to mine and operator safety as it exposes the mine and the operator/s to a potential risk of the roof collapsing over. It would be prudent to provide support beneath an exposed cavity as soon as possible so that both mine and operator safety can be ensured at all times when undertaking mining activity.
However, as operators of the longwall mining system are typically tasked with the activity of noticing deformities in the coal seam, such as cavity formations in the roof of an underground mine, the operators may suffer from fatigue owing to manual intervention in the process of detecting these deformities. Moreover, the operator's intuition and judgement process in detecting these deformities cannot be fully relied upon. When detecting the presence of cavities, the operator's judgement could be less than accurate, more than adequately erroneous, or delayed due to which the operator would not be able to mitigate the factor of risk to both mine and operator safety.
Hence, there is a need for a roof support for a longwall mining system that overcomes the aforementioned drawbacks and provides improved mine and operator safety.